Around 61 per cent of estate agents said they expected the property market to begin recovering within a year, while 28 per cent thought it would take between one and two years before prices stabilised, according to high street bank Abbey.
But seven per cent of those questioned thought prices would continue to fall for at least three years, and three per cent thought the current downturn would last even longer.
All the major house price indexes are showing price falls, with Nationwide Building Society last week saying homes cost 6.3 per cent less in June than they did a year ago.
But homeowners are more optimistic about the outlook for property than estate agents, with people expecting prices to stop falling within seven months on average, and no homeowners expecting the current problems to extend beyond 12 months.
Eight out of 10 homeowners said they were delaying a decision on whether or not to move to see if prices fell further.
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Jay B, oldham (09/07/2008 at 09:28)
well i have no sympathy for them.
they've had it too good for too long now. the reason we're in this mess is because of them overinflating the prices in the first place.
i've been trying to get on the property ladder for years now. but have been reluctant because of all the rises. how can a house that was only worth say £99k four or five years ago be £250k+ now with nothing actually done to it?
my wage hasnt gone up in line with it.
with the current credit crunch and high fuel prices, hopefully people will now realise estate agents have been fleecing us for so long to get the maximum cut in their commission.